Simultaneous image gathering system and method

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for simultaneous image acquisition are provided herein. An apparatus for simultaneous image capture may include a camera, and a chamber with an aperture, the camera oriented to capture light emitted through the aperture. The chamber may include at least first and second mirrors positioned inside the chamber with a defined angle between them, and a holder for an object to be imaged, the holder positioned inside the chamber between the first and second mirrors. In embodiments, the field of view of the camera includes at least portions of the first and second mirrors with respective portions of the object reflected by the first and second mirrors. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/461,963, entitled “SIMULTANEOUS IMAGE GATHERINGSYSTEM AND METHOD”, filed on Feb. 22, 2017, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field ofimage acquisition and processing, and in particular to methods andsystems for simultaneously capturing images of multiple sides of variousobjects, and processing them for storage or presentation.

BACKGROUND

Collectible objects with multiple sides, such as, for example, sportscards, stamps, coins, photographs, photo slides, postcards, stickers,magazines, comic books, comic cards, playing cards, trading cards,gaming cards, “pogs,” or the like, lend themselves well to gatheringdifferent images of them simultaneously. To identify, catalog, buy,sell, trade, or showcase these items, it is important to see more thanone side of them. Traditionally, one obtains digital images of one sideof an item and then flips or otherwise manipulates the item over toobtain an image of another side of the item. In some cases people mayuse multiple image capturing devices, or may move the image capturingdevice (as opposed to the item) to capture other sides of the item.These techniques run the risk of the item being changed or bumped beforethe second image is captured causing the different sides of the item tonot exactly match up to the item. They also tend to take more time andcause more wear and tear on image capturing devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitatethis description, like reference numerals designate like structuralelements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by wayof limitation in the Figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example cross section of asimultaneous image capture apparatus, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a close up view of the inside of the lighted box(chamber) of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 from above

FIG. 4 illustrates a view of the front of the apparatus of FIG. 1 withthe drawer closed.

FIG. 5 illustrates a view of the front of the apparatus of FIG. 1 withthe drawer open.

FIG. 6 illustrates a view of the front of the apparatus of FIG. 1 with atemplate placed on the glass window in the drawer, according to someembodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 with a different sizetemplate.

FIG. 8 illustrates a view of the front of the apparatus of FIG. 1 with atarget item placed on the glass window.

FIG. 9 illustrates a view of the inside of the lighted box (chamber) ofthe apparatus of FIG. 1 with the drawer closed and a target item placedon the drawer.

FIG. 10 illustrates a cross section of the apparatus with a side of thelighted box removed.

FIG. 11 illustrates a view of the inside of the lighted box (chamber) ofthe apparatus with the lights turned on to improve the quality of animage to be acquired.

FIG. 12 illustrates a field of view of the camera.

FIG. 13 illustrates the view as seen in FIG. 12, after a vertical flip.

FIG. 14 illustrates the view of FIG. 13 after 90-degree rotation to theleft

FIG. 15 illustrates a cropped version of the front (right) image shownin FIG. 14, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 16 illustrates a cropped version of the rear (left) image shown inFIG. 14, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example schematic implementation of an apparatusfor simultaneous image capture using two mirrors, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example schematic implementation of an apparatusfor simultaneous image capture using three mirrors, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example schematic implementation of an apparatusfor simultaneous image capture using four mirrors, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 20 illustrates a rear view of an alternate simultaneous imagecapture apparatus, showing a camera mounted on a horizontal printed lensmount arm.

FIG. 21 illustrates an alternate view of FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 illustrates a close up rear view of the camera of FIG. 20 asmounted on a horizontal lens arm.

FIG. 23 illustrates a close up front view of the camera of FIG. 20 asmounted in a lens mount arm.

FIG. 24 is a rear view close up of the camera mount of FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 is a front view close up of the camera shim mount as shown inFIG. 24 on a v-slot extrusion.

FIG. 26 illustrates an open side view of the alternate simultaneousimage capture apparatus of FIG. 20, showing a closed drawer with aslabbed card in position, upper and lower mirrors and several LEDs.

FIG. 27 is an alternate view of FIG. 26, with the drawer in the openposition.

FIG. 28 illustrates a front view of the alternate simultaneous imagecapture apparatus, with the drawer in the open position.

FIG. 29 illustrates an alternate front view of the example apparatus ofFIG. 28, here with the drawer in the closed position.

FIG. 30 is a close up view of the open drawer of FIG. 28, without atemplate.

FIG. 31 illustrates a close up view of a 3D printed drawer insert (whiteoutside) and a specific printed template (grey) for BGS cards, accordingto some embodiments.

FIG. 32 illustrates an open front view of the alternate apparatus, froma viewpoint in front of the apparatus looking at its front face, showinga close up view of an empty upper mirror frame holder on the left sideof the apparatus, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 33 illustrates the other side of the view shown in FIG. 32 (i.e.,the front right side of the apparatus, from a viewpoint in front of theapparatus looking at the front face of the apparatus), with the uppermirror frame now in place.

FIG. 34 illustrates a perspective top view of the alternate apparatusfrom a viewpoint above it, looking down into an upper portion of thefront face of the apparatus, showing the upper mirror frame in place,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 35 illustrates an open front view of the alternate apparatus,similar to that shown in FIG. 34, but from a greater distance in frontof the apparatus, showing the closed drawer and the mirror frame inplace.

FIG. 36 illustrates an open front view, similar to those of FIGS. 33 and35, with the upper mirror removed and thus showing both mirror frameslots on the right side as empty.

FIG. 37 illustrates a back view of a mirror frame with mirror, such asthat shown in FIG. 35, as removed from the apparatus.

FIG. 38 illustrates a front side of the mirror frame shown in FIG. 37.

FIG. 39 illustrates a view into the apparatus from a viewpoint in frontof the alternate apparatus, with the mirror frame removed, thus showinginternal baffles and the aperture to provide a view for the camera.

FIG. 40 illustrates a close up view of the open drawer of the alternateapparatus, as shown in FIG. 29, with the BGS template and an example BGSfootball card in image acquisition position.

FIG. 41 illustrates a view of an open drawer with a template, but nocard.

FIG. 42 illustrates a close up view of an open drawer with a card in anSGC template. The card is a “Cal Ripken, Jr.” specimen.

FIG. 43 illustrates a side view of the alternate apparatus, showing itstop and side panels.

FIG. 44 illustrates a close up view of the top left portion of the imageof FIG. 20, showing detail of a left side camera spacer arm. The pointof view is from behind the alternate apparatus, looking into the back ofthe alternate apparatus.

FIG. 45 an open side view of the rear portion of the alternateapparatus, illustrating detail of the outside of a right side cameraspacer arm.

FIG. 46 illustrates an open side view from a viewpoint looking at theright side of the alternate apparatus. The view of FIG. 46 is a muchwider angle view of what is shown in FIG. 45.

FIG. 47 illustrates the same open side view as is shown in FIG. 46, butfrom a different angle.

FIG. 48 illustrates a front view of an exemplary LED clip, according tovarious embodiments.

FIG. 49 shows a rear view of the exemplary LED clip of FIG. 48.

FIG. 50 illustrates an open top view of the alternate apparatus, takenwith the apparatus in the same position as is shown in FIGS. 46 and 47,the view showing, from left to right, the camera on a lens arm mount,the two camera spacer arms (one on each side), the upper baffle, and theupper mirror frame.

FIG. 51A illustrates a raw image (as seen by the camera) acquired usingthe example apparatus of FIGS. 20-50, in accordance with variousembodiments. The images are inverted, being images of the respectivereflections of the front and back of the Cal Ripken card in the mirrors.

FIG. 51B illustrates the view of a top of the object being imaged inFIG. 51A, as seen from a viewpoint at the top rear of the chamber.

FIG. 52 illustrates the raw images of FIG. 51A, after being inverted,rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise, and respectively cropped down tothe outer perimeter of the template (e.g., the grey cardholder shown inFIG. 31).

FIG. 53 illustrates the front and back images of FIG. 52, afterrespectively cropping them to remove the template.

FIG. 54 illustrates an overview of the operational flow of a process foracquiring simultaneous images of an object in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 54A illustrates a schematic diagram of how light rays reflected onan exemplary target object are reflected in the mirrors and thencaptured by a camera, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 55 illustrates alternate front and back images similar to thoseshown in FIG. 52, taken after a slight depression was applied to thelower mirror; as may be seen, due to the depression applied at a lowercorner of the lower mirror, the image of the back of the card is rotatedrelative to the image of the front of the card, and the top perimeter ofthe back image is not straight.

FIG. 55A illustrates the front and back images of FIG. 55, afterrespectively cropping them to only show the source images (e.g., thecard within the plastic cover).

FIG. 56 illustrates the point at which a normal force to the surface ofthe lower mirror was applied, which created the skew in the back imagesshown in FIGS. 55 and 55A.

FIG. 57 illustrates a calibration cross placed on the outer rear (so asto be seen in the camera's view) of the drawer of the example alternateapparatus.

FIG. 58 illustrates an example camera view of the upper and lowermirrors (upper on the left) and the rear of the drawer with thecalibration cross in the center used to center the images.

FIG. 59 illustrates an example baffle attached to the camera lens,according to various embodiments.

FIG. 60 illustrates a block diagram of a computer device suitable forpracticing the present disclosure, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 61 illustrates an example computer-readable storage medium havinginstructions configured to implement all (or portion of) softwareimplementations of and/or practice (aspects of) process 5400 of FIG. 54,in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure include techniques andconfigurations for a system and an apparatus for simultaneous imagegathering, in accordance with some embodiments. In embodiments, theapparatus may include a camera, and a chamber. The camera may beoriented to provide a field of view inside the chamber. In embodiments,the chamber may include: at least first and second mirrors positionedinside the chamber under a defined angle relative each other, and aplaceholder for an object to be positioned inside the chambersubstantially between the first and second mirrors. The field of view ofthe camera includes at least portions of the first and second mirrorswith respective portions of the object reflected by the first and secondmirrors.

By using a single image capturing device and a set of mirrors, multiplesides of an item (object) may be substantially simultaneously captured.This may guarantee that nothing has been changed between imageacquisitions, and the time to capture the images as well as wear andtear on image capturing device(s) may be reduced.

In some embodiments, two sides of a substantially flat item may becaptured. In some embodiments, three or more sides of an item may becaptured by changing the disposition of the mirrors inside the chamber.In example embodiments, first surface mirrors may be used to ensure thatthere is not an extra layer of glass on the mirror that can causeghosting of the captured image.

In embodiments, an apparatus for simultaneous image capture may includea camera, and a chamber with an aperture, the camera oriented to capturelight emitted through the aperture. The chamber may include at leastfirst and second mirrors positioned inside the chamber with a definedangle between them, and a holder for an object to be imaged, the holderpositioned inside the chamber between the first and second mirrors. Inembodiments, the field of view of the camera includes at least portionsof the first and second mirrors with respective portions of the objectreflected by the first and second mirrors.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, wherein like numeralsdesignate like parts throughout, and in which are shown by way ofillustration embodiments in which the subject matter of the presentdisclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may bemade without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope of embodiments is defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

The following description may use perspective-based descriptions such astop/bottom, in/out, over/under, and the like. Such descriptions aremerely used to facilitate the discussion and are not intended torestrict the application of embodiments described herein to anyparticular orientation.

The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment” or “inembodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same ordifferent embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,”“having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of thepresent disclosure, are synonymous.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example cross section of asimultaneous image capture apparatus, in accordance with someembodiments. It has one of the sides of the lighted box removed so thatthe inside may be visible. There is a camera 102 in the back (rightside) that looks through a hole (aperture) 104 in the lighted chamber(box) 106. The left side shows cross sections of two mirrors 108, 110that make up the opposite sides of the lighted box 106. The inside ofthe apparatus is shown by removing the right-side panel.

Normally the side panel is in place to control the lighting in thelighted box/chamber 106. It may be possible to remove the left sidepanel and have pictures taken from the other side. The device happens tobe symmetrical.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may include the camera 102 at thebottom and the mirrors 108, 110 at the top. The target item/object maybe dropped inside like a piece of bread into a toaster. It may besandwiched between two pieces of glass and have a mechanism to drop thetarget item/object out the bottom when the image capture is done.Alternatively, the target item/object may be ejected out of the top whenimage capture is done. The whole device may be disposed at an angle sothat gravity may help slide the item more safely than simply droppingit.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 1, the apparatus includes a drawer 114with a glass window 112, on which a target object may be placed. It isnoted that, in embodiments, glass window 112 may not be required, butrather, in some embodiments it is possible to simply position a targetitem/object in a holder template so that the edges of the item keep theitem suspended. The important thing is that the window is transparentand exposes the desired portion of the target item/object to bothmirrors 108, 110 and ultimately to camera 102.

As shown, both sides of a flat object may be captured substantiallysimultaneously by making both sides of the object visible to a camera102 at the same time. This is made possible using two mirrors 108, 110disposed at a determined (e.g., 90-degree) angle to each other andsuspending the target object to be substantially equidistant between thetwo mirrors. In embodiments, this may be done by using a drawer with theglass window 112 and positioning the mirrors 108, 110 at determined(e.g., 45-degree) angles relative to the drawer 114. This isdemonstrated on the left side of FIG. 1. On the right side of FIG. 1,camera 102 is shown as positioned so that it is tipped on its side, andis taking a vertically oriented letter box picture. In some embodiments,the target object may be suspended between the two mirrors other than inan equidistant fashion. Importantly, simultaneous capturing of multipleangles in a single photo may be possible. For example, multiple anglesof a three dimensional object may be used, but not necessarily at thesame scale.

FIG. 2 illustrates a close up view of the inside of the lighted box(chamber) of the apparatus. Drawer 114 is positioned between the twomirrors 108, 110. As shown, drawer 114 includes a glass window 112 thatthe target item may be disposed on.

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of the apparatus from above. Camera 102 is onthe right side, and mirrors 108, 110 are on the left side. In FIG. 3only top mirror 108 is visible. Handle 116 for drawer 114 is visible onthe left.

FIG. 4 illustrates a view of the front of the example apparatus forsimultaneous image capture with the drawer closed. Shown are the twomirrors 108, 110 with drawer 114 positioned between them. Similarly,FIG. 5 illustrates a view of the front of the apparatus for simultaneousimage capture with the drawer open. Visible are top mirror 108 and glasswindow 112 in the middle of drawer 114.

FIG. 6 illustrates a view of the front of the example apparatus with atemplate 122 placed on glass window 112 in drawer 114. In embodiments,there may be several templates that may be used with the exampleapparatus, each template being specific to a particular type, orsub-type, of object. In some embodiments, the template may have markings(e.g., a bar code) or other indicia that allow a connectedcamera-controlling computer to associate with a certain size targetobject and its relative location within the upper surface of drawer 114.In such embodiments, when a particular template is known by thecomputer, such as, for example, by a user entering its type into thecomputer, or, by scanning the template with a reader or other inputdevice, software running on the computer may use this information toregister the image properly prior to acquiring the simultaneous images,as well as for cropping purposes once the images have been acquired.

FIG. 7 illustrates a view of the front of the example apparatus forsimultaneous image capture with a different size template 124(“toploader”) placed on glass window 112 in drawer 114. In embodiments,to operate the simultaneous image capturing device, an operator mayfirst slide open drawer 114, as shown in FIG. 5. The operator may thenplace a template on glass window 112 in the middle of drawer 114, as isillustrated in FIG. 6. It is here noted that template 122, or 124, mayhave a locking mechanism to drawer insert 141. Thus, in FIG. 5 are seennotches where the teeth of the template may lock into drawer insert 141to ensure that the template is positioned correctly. In this manner, inembodiments, software in a connected computer, for example, may knowwhere the target object should be within any image.

FIG. 8 illustrates a view of the front of the example apparatus forsimultaneous image capture with target item 120 placed on glass window112 of drawer 114. As further shown, drawer 114 may be provided with ahandle 116, by means of which an operator may open and close drawer 114.In alternate embodiments, drawer 114 may also be opened by a computer,in the manner of a disc drive or CD drive, which would also requireadditional hardware for a motor and control circuitry. FIG. 9illustrates a view of the inside of the lighted box (chamber) of theapparatus with the drawer closed following the state shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 illustrates a side view of the example apparatus with one sideof the lighted box removed. Here target item 120 is positioned for imagecapture. In embodiments, once a desired template is positioned in thedrawer, an operator may place the desired target item on the glass, asillustrated in FIG. 8, described above. The operator may then close thedrawer, which is the situation as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

FIG. 11 illustrates a view of the inside of the lighted box (chamber)106 of the apparatus with lights turned on to improve the quality of theimages to be obtained. In embodiments, an operator may turn on thelights in the lighted box to prepare for capturing the image, asillustrated in FIG. 11.

FIG. 12 illustrates the field of view of camera 102 of the apparatus forsimultaneous image capture, as possibly rotated by 90 degreescounter-clockwise. FIG. 12 shows what the camera sees via reflections inthe mirrors angled at 45 degrees above and below the horizontal plane ofdrawer 114. In embodiments, an operator may then capture an image, asshown in FIG. 12, using the camera. It is noted that in the middle ofthe image of FIG. 12 a cross section of drawer 114 is seen. As noted,the images of the target item, visible on the top and bottom of FIG. 12,are actually reflections in the upper and lower mirrors of the targetitem, as seen by the camera whose viewpoint is 180 degrees differentthan that of an operator inserting the target object in the drawer.Thus, the camera sees the reflection of the target object in the mirrorsfrom behind the mirrors (relative to the viewpoint of an operator). Thetarget object itself, in actuality, is lying flat on the drawer facingup with its top to the right of an operator and its left side (where anyletters printed on it begin) closest to the operator at the front of thedrawer. Thus, in FIG. 12 it can be seen that all of the text in thetarget item is inverted, due to the fact that the images seen here arereflections in a mirror seen from the opposite direction to theoperator.

Thus, the image seen in FIG. 12 is from the perspective of what can beseen if one were standing behind the chamber looking through theaperture. Because the camera is turned on its side (as shown in FIG. 3)so that the long dimension of the camera is now vertical, the raw imagethat is captured would have the letter box horizontally oriented, andthus the image of FIG. 12 is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise.However, it is noted, some cameras detect that they are tipped on theirside and automatically do this 90-degree rotation on their own. Ifcamera 102 is such a camera, then the image seen in FIG. 12 is the oneprovided by camera 102, and no further rotation is necessary to obtainthe image as shown in FIG. 12. In the middle of the field of view of thecamera are seen the images of the drawer, but these are out of focus andsomewhat difficult to see. This is because the camera is focused on whatit can see in the mirrors, which happens to be the two sides of thetarget object. Since one set of mirrors between the camera and thetarget object may be used, the reflection causes everything to beinverted. An inversion (of what is already a reflection, which resultsin a normal view) and optional rotation and crop may further be appliedto extract the images of both sides of the item.

In embodiments, to then capture the images of another target item,drawer may be slid out, the item may be swapped out, and optionally theholder template that sits on the glass window (illustrated in FIG. 8)may also be swapped out. Then the drawer may be slid back in, andanother picture captured and processed based on the specifications ofthe holder template.

FIG. 13 illustrates a view of FIG. 12 after inversion to correct for thereflection of the mirrors. It is noted that inversion is sometimes knownas a “vertical flip”, or a flip of the image along a horizontal axisacross the center.

FIG. 14 illustrates a view of FIG. 13 after a 90-degreecounter-clockwise rotation, to make the images present side by side,following the vertical flip which resulted in FIG. 13, and FIGS. 15-16illustrate cropped images from FIG. 14.

In embodiments, as noted, a computer may be used to process an acquiredimage by applying the following operations: first, a vertical inversionmay be performed, so as to de-invert the text in the image of thereflection, the result of which is illustrated in FIG. 13. Second, a90-degree counter-clockwise rotation may be performed, so as to make thefront and back images vertical, the result of which is illustrated inFIG. 14. Third, the front image may be cropped out from the right sideof the image. In embodiments, the dimensions and location to crop may bedefined by the specified template, or, for example, they may beautomatically detected based on analyzing the image, using, for example,edge detection or other image processing techniques and algorithms, asmay be known. An example cropped front image is illustrated in FIG. 15.Fourth, and lastly, the back image may be cropped out from the left sideof the image. It is noted that this is the same as the third operation,now operating on the back image. The results of this fourth operationare illustrated in FIG. 16.

Following all of this processing, matching front and back images of atarget object are obtained that were simultaneously captured using asingle image capture apparatus.

It is here noted that while the described embodiments use a singletarget item, in embodiments, techniques according to various embodimentsare not limited to single target items. Such techniques may also be usedto simultaneously capture images of multiple sides of multiple itemssimply by applying the techniques defined in U.S. Pat. No. 7,924,314 B2“Bulk image gathering system and method,” whose content is alsoincorporated herein in its entirety.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example schematic implementation of an apparatusfor simultaneous image capture using two mirrors, in accordance withsome embodiments. As noted above, and as shown in FIG. 17, the two sidesof a two-sided object, such as, for example, sports collectible card,are reflected in the two mirrors, and those reflections are capturedusing the camera. If, for reasons of space, or size and dimensionalityof the apparatus, it is desired to provide the camera in a differentrelative location and orientation to the reflections of the targetobject in the mirrors, then, in embodiments, additional mirrors may beused to direct the simultaneous image. In that regard, FIG. 18illustrates an example schematic implementation of an apparatus forsimultaneous image capture using three mirrors, in accordance with someembodiments. In the embodiment of FIG. 18 the double image seen in theupper and lower mirrors is now once again reflected such that the cameraplaced at a significant vertical offset above the plane of the drawer(but at a smaller horizontal distance from the drawer) may capture it.In this example embodiment, because there is a third mirror, thesimultaneously acquired images of front and back of the target object ascaptured by the camera need not be inverted further, as the third mirroralready reinverts them to their original orientation. Thus, the camerain FIG. 18 would see and capture an image essentially as depicted inFIG. 13.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example schematic implementation of an apparatusfor simultaneous image capture using four mirrors, in accordance withsome embodiments. This example embodiment allows the camera to be on thesame side of the apparatus as the drawer. Because the simultaneouslycaptured image in the upper and lower mirrors between which the targetobject is positioned is now reflected twice, the image captured by thecamera in FIG. 19 is, as in the case of FIGS. 1-17, is inverted, being areflection. In the case of FIG. 19, it is a reflection of a reflectionof a reflection. The example embodiment of FIG. 19 allows for a tall butnot deep overall apparatus footprint, with both the camera and itsmounting assembly, and the drawer into which the template and targetobject are placed, to be on the front of the apparatus.

FIGS. 20-50, next described, illustrate an alternate embodiment of asimultaneous image capture apparatus to that of the embodimentillustrated in FIGS. 1-19, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 20 illustrates a rear view of an alternate simultaneous imagecapture apparatus, showing a camera 102 mounted on a horizontal printedlens mount arm 130. The camera may be, for example, a Canon EOS Rebel T5DSLR camera, as shown, or the like. In embodiments, any camera 102 thatcan take photos at 18 megapixels (MP) and that can use a lens such as aCanon EF 40 mm f/2.8 STM lens, may be appropriate. It is here noted thatthe benefit of lenses such as the Canon EF 40 mm f/2.8 STM lens is theirsignificant flatness.

FIG. 20 illustrates camera 102 mounted on printed lens mount arm 130. Itis noted that, as used herein, “printed” refers to manufacturing of acomponent or element using a 3D printing process. Bottom camera shim 133may be used to control the vertical motion of camera 102. Also shown areinternal baffles 140, appearing behind the camera. Internal baffles 140may be used to control the color of light that may illuminate a targetobject. and what the mirrors see as reflections. In embodiments, camera102 may be powered by a power cable, such as, for example, a KapaxenACK-E10 Power adapter for Canon T5, or the like.

FIG. 21 illustrates an alternate rear view of the alternate imagecapture apparatus of FIG. 20. The view is taken from a viewpoint that ishigher than, and at a farther distance behind the image capture device,than the viewpoint of FIG. 20. With reference to FIG. 21, visible in thefigure are baffles 140 and aperture 157, through which the lens ofcamera 102 acquires light reflected from two mirrors provided at thefront of the apparatus that contain top and bottom images of an objectto be imaged, as described above. Detail of the mounting of the mirrorsat a front end of the image capture device is described in detail below.

FIGS. 22 through 25 illustrate additional details of the camera mountingsystem provided at the rear of the alternate apparatus. These figuresare next described.

FIG. 22 illustrates a close up rear view of camera 102 as mounted onhorizontal lens arm 130. In embodiments, this mounting is implemented asfollows. Screw 150 provided at the top of the mounting assembly mayprotrude through a custom printed mount 150A provided on hot shoe 137 ofcamera 102. Custom printed mount 150A was created to use the camera'shot shoe for alignment of the camera in the example apparatus. Screw 150allows for fine adjustment of left and right positioning of camera 102.Screw 150 may be attached, via, for example, a nut and/or bolt, tomounting housing 151, which is integrated into lens mount arm 130, asseen in FIG. 24.

FIG. 23 illustrates a close up front view of the camera of FIG. 20 asmounted in lens mount arm 130. As shown, lens 160 is positioned in thecenter of lens mount arm 130. Fine tuning may be done with screw 150 atthe hot shoe, as well as screw 153 at the bottom of camera 102.

FIG. 24 is a rear view close up of the hot shoe camera mount of FIG. 23.Printed screw 150 passes through custom printed hot shoe mount 150A,then threads into mounting housing 151, which may be integrated into thelens mount arm 130. Turning screw 150 allows for fine left and rightadjustments of the position of the camera. By adjusting the camera, bothleft and right, as well as vertically, the view of the camera may becentered on the images seen in the two mirrors. In this connection it isnoted that if there are slight imperfections in the planarity of themirrors, or they are not fully symmetric, the images in the mirrors, asseen by the camera, will not be symmetric either. In embodiments, thismay be cured in software, but may also be remedied by changing theposition of the camera, if needed.

FIG. 25 presents a front view close up of the lower left portion of theview of FIG. 24. Shown in FIG. 25 are camera shim mount 133 provided ona v-slot extrusion 159. In embodiments, camera shim mount 133 may becentered under the camera body. Screw 165 allows for adjustment of theup/down tilt of the camera, as well as to keep the camera's lens in avertical plane perpendicular to the horizontal plane in which the targetobject is provided. It is also noted that the weight of camera 102 tendsto make the camera body sag down, and the camera shim mounting systemcan, in embodiments, eliminate that sag.

FIGS. 26 through 42, next described, illustrate elements andfunctionality of the front portion of the alternate apparatus of FIG.20.

FIG. 26 illustrates an open side view of the alternate simultaneousimage capture apparatus of FIG. 20, showing a closed drawer with aslabbed card in position, upper and lower mirrors 108 and 110, and fourLEDs 170, respectively mounted on the side frames. In embodiments LEDs170 may be provided. In embodiments, LEDs 170 may be provided one ontop, and one on the bottom, of each side frame 171. In embodiments, theymay be placed where they best illuminate the target object. In theexample of FIG. 26 they are placed about half way up the side frames172. It is noted that the rear bottom LED is seen only through the clearsurfaces of the template and card slab, and there is a reflection in theupper mirror 108 of upper rear LED 170. In embodiments, LEDs 170 maycomprise G4 24 SMD Spot LED Pure White 6000-6500K LEDs, for example. Inthe example of FIG. 27, the following associated components were used:G4 ceramic socket and wires, 12V Male 2.1×5.5 MM DC Power Cable Jackadapter, ½ Meter 5.5 mm×2.1 mm Power Male to Female Barrel PlugConnector Extension Cable, DC Power Splitter 1 Female to 4 Male, and a12V DC Power Supply. It is understood that any equivalent lighting arrayor system may be used, in various embodiments.

Continuing with reference to FIG. 26, mirrors 108 and 110 respectivelyconnect to each of side frames 172 in a manner such that there isexactly a 90 degree angle between the mirrors. In embodiments, eachmirror may be offset 45 degrees from the drawer, which may be providedin a horizontal plane. However, it is here noted that in otherembodiments, it is not necessary to have substantial symmetry, and theupper mirror may be at a different angle relative to the drawer, orother object holder, than is the lower mirror to the drawer or otherobject holder. In such alternate embodiments, the images may be ofdifferent relative sizes, and may be left that way, or modified insoftware of a connected computer. In some embodiments the level ofdetail, and relative importance, of one side or facet of an object maybe significantly more important, and in such cases it may be useful toobtain clearer and larger images of that more important side.

In embodiments, mirrors 108 and 110 may be 8″×9″ first surface mirrors(for example, 1λ, from www.firstsurfacemirrors.com). Moreover, inembodiments, λ/4 and λ/8 mirrors may also be used, but those tend to bemore expensive, and, in many cases, may not offer additional benefits tojustify the cost.

FIG. 27 illustrates an alternate view of that of FIG. 26, showing thedrawer in an open position (i.e., pulled out at the front of the exampleapparatus) and thus allowing lower rear LED 170 to be seen. It is notedthat there is a reflection of this lower rear LED that is seen in lowermirror 110.

FIG. 28 illustrates a front view of the alternate simultaneous imagecapture apparatus of FIG. 20, with the drawer 114 in an open position.In embodiments, drawer 114 may be opened and closed via a standarddrawer pull, as shown, or other known mechanisms. As shown, the top ofthe apparatus, as well as the front portion, may each be covered withcorrugated plastic panels 171 to help minimize the dust on the glass andmirrors inside the apparatus. Similarly, FIG. 29 illustrates the frontview of FIG. 28, with the drawer in the closed position. To facilitatedrawer 114 to easily open and close repeatedly, two mini ball bearingslides were used. In this particular example, Hafele 420.58.257 ballbearing slides were used.

FIG. 30 is a close up view of the open drawer of FIG. 29, without anyinserted template. Therefore, clear glass plate 147 is visible at thebottom of the drawer, on which may sit the template containing an objectto be imaged, such as, for example, a slabbed or unprotected collectablesports card, such as a baseball or football card. Clear glass plate bothholds the object in the template, and allows the lower mirror to capturean image of the back of the imaged object. In embodiments, for example,clear glass plate 147 may be 5 by 7 inches, or any other appropriatedimension for the objects being imaged. Because the back of the targetobject, here a sports card, is actually imaged through glass plate 147,unlike the front, which is directly imaged, in embodiments, to obtaintrue symmetry, the depth at which the template sits in the drawer may beplaced at a slight offset downwards, such that the distance between thelower mirror and the back of the card and the upper mirror and the frontof the card, is uniform. Alternatively, the placement of the drawer maybe slightly offset vertically relative to the upper and lower mirrors,or other adjustments to maintain the overall symmetry and parity of sizeof the simultaneously acquired images, in embodiments where suchsymmetry is desired.

Because there is no template inserted in drawer 114 in the view of FIG.31, slots 146, which are cut into drawer insert 141, into which eachtemplate's protrusions are inserted so as to anchor the template intothe insert, as described above, are easily seen.

FIG. 31 illustrates a close up view of a an example object to be imaged,in accordance with some embodiments. Shown is an example 3D printeddrawer insert (white outside) 141 and a specific printed template (grey)143 for BGS cards, according to some embodiments. In embodiments, havingdifferent colors for the template and the drawer insert allow for easycropping of images, as described below.

It is noted that, in embodiments, there may be several templates 143,each for a different type, size, brand, category, or subcategory ofobject to be imaged. In the example of FIG. 31, template 143 is designedto hold a BGS football card, BGS referring to a provider of such cards.Moreover, there is a piece of glass 147 provided on the bottom of drawerinsert 141, upon which template 143 may sit. As may be seen in FIG. 31,template 143 may have indexing notches 145 that match correspondingslots in drawer insert 141 to insure that template 143 may only beinserted in one way or orientation. It is here noted that in the exampleof FIG. 31, as well as in all of the examples presented herein, thetemplates are arranged to be inserted in the drawer insert so that acard (or other object) to be imaged that has been inserted into atemplate right side up always has its top, when sitting in theapparatus, on the left side of the drawer insert 141, as shown (from theviewpoint of FIG. 31, which is in front of the example apparatus). Thisshould be noted in order to understand the images obtained from thecard, as described below. It should be further noted that when theobject is inserted into the chamber, the viewpoint switches 180 degreesto be that of the camera, positioned, for example, at the rear of thehousing of the example apparatus.

FIGS. 32 through 37, next described, provide details of the mirrormountings at the front of the exemplary apparatus.

With reference to FIG. 32, there is illustrated an open front view ofthe alternate apparatus, from a point of view in front of the apparatuslooking at the front face of the apparatus, showing a close up view ofan empty upper mirror frame holder on the left side of the apparatus,according to some embodiments. Thus, in the view of FIG. 32, the uppermirror, as well as the front and side panels, have been removed. In thecenter of the figure is seen one of the slots 175, or holders, for theupper mirror frame. Overall, as shown in FIGS. 34 and 35, there are twosuch slots on the top of the side frame and two on the bottom of theside frame, making four slots on each side. In embodiments, the sideframe may be 3D printed, as are most of the structural elements in thealternate example apparatus of FIGS. 20-50. The feedstock for an example3D printer may be, for example, HatchBox PLA Cool Gray 6 C Filament,which was used to 3D print the structural elements shown in FIGS. 20-50.

FIG. 33 illustrates the other side of the view shown in FIG. 32 (i.e.,the front right side of the apparatus, from a viewpoint in front of theapparatus looking at the front face of the apparatus, similar to thatused in FIG. 30), with the mirror frame now in place. Also shown, abovethe slot on the right side of the image, is retaining spring clip 177.In the example apparatus, each mirror has a set of long tab and a set ofshort tabs, which slide into corresponding slots 175 on the side frames,as shown in FIG. 32. In embodiments, the long tabs may be slid in first,and the mirror frame slid back on the short tabs. In embodiments,retaining spring clip 177 may be used to prevent the short mirror tabsfrom coming out unexpectedly, by applying pressure back against theshort tabs on the other side (left side) of the mirror frame.

FIG. 34 illustrates a top view of the alternate apparatus from aviewpoint above and looking down into, the apparatus, showing the uppermirror frame in place, according to some embodiments. Mirror short tabs180 are provided on the left side of the mirror frame, and long tabs 181are provided on the right side of the mirror frame, along with retainingspring clip 177.

FIG. 35 illustrates an open front view of the alternate apparatus,similar to that shown in FIG. 32, but from a greater distance in frontof the apparatus, and with the front and top panels removed, showing theclosed drawer and the upper mirror frame in place. Also shown are framestructural elements 183, and corner brackets 185 that hold themtogether. In this particular example, frame structural elements are 20mm×20 mm aluminum extrusion (for example, MiSumi HFS5 Series 20 mm×20mm), and corner brackets 185 are MiSumi HBLFSN5-5 Series, ReversalBracket with Tab. Also used in this particular example are square nutsfor HFS5 (MiSumi HNKK5-5), and M5-0.8×10 MM Metric Socket Head screws.Other materials and fasteners may be used, in various otherimplementations, as may be desired.

FIG. 36 illustrates an open front view, similar to those of FIGS. 34 and35, of the right upper frame with the upper mirror removed and thus bothmirror frame slots 175 on the right side of the frame being empty.

FIG. 37 illustrates a back view of mirror frame 182, such as that shownin FIG. 36, as removed from the example apparatus. As may be seen in thefigure, short tabs 180 are on the left, and long tabs 181 are providedon the right of frame 182. Similarly, FIG. 38 illustrates a front sideof mirror frame 182, with long tabs 181 now on the left, and short tabs180 now on the right side of the mirror frame.

FIG. 39 illustrates a view from a viewpoint in front of the alternateapparatus, with the mirror frame removed so as to show internal baffles140, and aperture 157, the rear views of which were described above withreference to FIGS. 20 and 21. Also visible, through aperture 157, arecamera shim 133, camera 102, lens 160 and lens mount arm 130. It isnoted that, in embodiments, a preferable color for the baffles is grey.Thus, baffles 140, in this example, comprise coroplast white corrugatedplastic sheets (0.157″ thickness for the internal baffles and externalcover), which were painted grey using a flat enamel paint color matchedto Pantone Cool Grey 6 C. This color was chosen due to the fact thatsome sports cards have some reflective surfaces provided on them. Thesereflective surfaces often have a chrome type shiny look. It is thusnoted that if a color or design is used in the baffles, the reflectivesurfaces on the sports cards will simply act as mirrors of theirsurroundings, and the image of one or both sides of the sports cards(depending upon whether one or both sides have a reflective surface)will show the colored surroundings of the inside of the chamber wherethe reflective surfaces on the card were. By using a grey baffle, whichsimulates the chrome type color of the reflective surfaces, the imagesof those reflective surfaces reflect the grey baffle, and thus look asthey do, or very close to how they look, on the actual physical card.

FIG. 40 illustrates a close up view of the open drawer of the alternateapparatus, as shown in FIG. 29. As may be seen, the object to be imagedis a BGS football card, mounted in a BGS template, with the top of thecard at the left of the drawer.

FIG. 41 illustrates a view of an open drawer with a SGC template, but nocard, and FIG. 42 illustrates the open drawer view of FIG. 40, now witha card in the SGC template, the card is a “Cal Ripken, Jr.” baseballcard. As noted above, the card is inserted such that its top is on theleft side, and the template's identifying letters appear on its bottomleft.

FIG. 43 illustrates a outer view of the alternate apparatus with all ofits panels inserted, thus showing its top and side panels.

FIG. 44 illustrates a close up view of the top left portion of the imageof FIG. 20, showing detail of a left side camera spacer arm 193. Thepoint of view is from behind the alternate apparatus, looking into theback of the alternate apparatus. In the example apparatus, there is aprinted camera spacer arm 193 on each side of the top portion of theapparatus. Spacer arms 193 insure that the middle v-slot extrusions ofboth sides of the example apparatus are the same distance apart. This isimportant to make sure that each side of the mirror frames, which areattached to vertical supports that span the vertical distance betweenthe v-slot extrusions on either side of the example apparatus, aresubstantially coplanar, so that each mirror is in a plane, and also sothat the angle subtended between the two mirrors is the same along theentire width of the mirrors. Moreover, that angle subtended between themirrors may preferably be bisected by the horizontal plane in which thetarget object is provided, within the drawer, along the entire width ofthe drawer, where symmetrical and equal in size images of front and backof an object are desired. Thus, to acquire simultaneous images such thatthe two images are of the same size, have parallel vertical andhorizontal perimeter lines, and are at equal distances from a centerline running across the width of the image of the drawer, verticaldistances between the middle extrusion and the top extrusion, as well asbetween the middle extrusion and the bottom extrusion, are preferablyuniform along the entire depth of the apparatus, and those distances onthe left side are equal to those on the right side.

FIG. 45 shows an open side view of the rear portion of the alternateapparatus, illustrating detail of the outside of a right side cameraspacer arm 193. FIG. 45 illustrates an open side view from a viewpointlooking at the right side (from a perspective looking at the front ofthe apparatus) of the alternate apparatus of FIG. 20. It is noted thatthe view of FIG. 46 is a much wider angle view of what is shown in FIG.45, taken form the same side of the example apparatus. FIG. 47illustrates the same open side view as is shown in FIG. 46, but from adifferent angle, thus presenting a full view of both front and rearportions of the example apparatus, with all components installed.

Finally, FIG. 48 illustrates an open top view of the alternateapparatus, the apparatus in the same position as is shown in FIGS. 46and 47, the view showing, from left to right, camera 102 on a lens armmount, the two camera spacer arms (one on each side) 193, the upperbaffle 140, and the upper mirror frame 182.

Next described is an exemplary process flow for a process to scansimultaneous images of an example object, here a baseball card, andstore various intermediate and final image outputs in one or moredatabases. The process may be implemented in a computer that controls,and is communicably connected to, camera 102 as provided in an apparatusaccording to various embodiments. The computer may further have a barcode reader, by which markings on example objects to be imaged, or ontemplates, may be obtained and input to the computer. Finally, thecomputer may generate a User Interface (UI) by which a user or operatormay perform a setup process, acquire images of example objects, and saveone or more of raw, intermediate and final images to one or moredatabases. FIG. 54, described below, illustrates an overview of theoperational flow of an example process for acquiring simultaneous imagesof an object in accordance with various embodiments. In order to betterunderstand the example process of FIG. 54, first FIGS. 51 through 53,which provide example images at various stages of the exemplary imageacquisition process, are next described.

FIG. 51A illustrates an example raw image, as seen by camera 102 of theexample apparatus of FIGS. 20-50, of the front and back of the CalRipken SGC baseball card that is shown in FIG. 42. The images, relativeto the original images printed on the card, are reflected about ahorizontal axis, being images of the respective reflections of the frontand back of the Cal Ripken card in the upper and lower mirrors of theapparatus, as seen from the back of the apparatus, looking through theaperture. FIG. 51B illustrates the view of the object being imaged inFIG. 51A, as seen from a viewpoint at the top rear of the chamber (andthus above and in front of the aperture). It is this viewpoint, of FIG.51B, of the Cal Ripken baseball card, that is reflected in the upper andlower mirrors. Thus, by comparison with the actual card in the SGCtemplate as placed in the drawer, as shown in FIG. 51B, Cal Ripken'seyes, in the image of FIG. 51A, are now on the bottom of the image, andthe “SGC” is on the bottom right, not the top right, of the image.

It is here noted that in order to best understand how the images of FIG.51 relate to the original actual object, it is important to rememberthat the reflections in the two mirrors of the example apparatus are ofthe card in the drawer as shown in FIG. 42, but the viewpoint that themirrors see is not what is shown in FIG. 42, but rather a 180 degreerotation of the view of FIG. 42, precisely as shown in FIG. 51B. FIG. 42(and, for example, FIG. 40 as well) are taken from a viewpoint at thefront of the example apparatus, looking at the drawer. To transform fromthe view of FIG. 42 to the raw images of FIG. 51A, which are acquiredfrom the camera's viewpoint, both a 180 degree rotation (to switch tothe camera's viewpoint) and a reflection (due to the mirrors) arerequired.

FIG. 52 illustrates the raw images of FIG. 51A, after being inverted or“vertically flipped” to undo the effect of the reflection in the mirrors(the discussion above of FIGS. 12 and 13 is here noted), then rotated 90degrees counter-clockwise, and then respectively cropped down to theouter perimeter of the template (e.g., the grey cardholder shown in FIG.31). It is noted that a “vertical flip” or inversion may be understoodby taking a page on which FIG. 51A has been printed, turning it overabout a horizontal axis between the two images, and looking through theunderside of the page (with lighting shining on the front side of thepage) to see the image. The same effect may be achieved by a horizontalflip about a vertical axis, but then the front image will still be onthe top of the page.

FIG. 53 illustrates the front and back images of FIG. 52, afterrespectively cropping them to remove the template, leaving images of theactual cards in the plastic slab.

As noted above, in embodiments, camera 102 may be controlled by acomputer, and the simultaneous images that are acquired may be processedand stored in one or more databases by the computer. For example, in apre-scan, or startup operation, an operator may open a session, input orselect the camera being used in the apparatus, and input to the computeran f-stop, shutter speed and ISO for the camera. In some embodiments,these values may be, for example, 2.8, 1/50 second, and 100. Inalternate embodiments, of course, other values may be used. At thispoint the User Interface (UI) may be loaded, connected to the camera andready to scan. The operator may then select or input (if not yet in thecomputer) the appropriate template, and, if desired, scan a transactionbarcode associated with the card (e.g., attached to the slab, as shownin FIG. 53, top of the front image).

In embodiments, at this stage, the operator may check if an autofocusoption is available, and if it is, he or she may call it. It is notedthat for applications where the same type of target object is imaged,the focus should not change that much between shots. To do so may addtime and possible stress on the lens to focus each time. Thus, ingeneral, an operator may only need to focus if there is a significantchange in object, e.g., card, thickness. Additionally, in someembodiments, an operator may start a live view, which allows them tomanual focus the lens.

Once an operator has completed setup and, if needed, focusing thecamera, in embodiments, the computer may acquire images and process themfor storage. One example process for doing that is illustrated in FIG.54. With reference thereto, FIG. 54 illustrates an overview of theoperational flow of a process 5400 for acquiring simultaneous images ofan object in accordance with various embodiments. Process 5400 may beperformed by a computer connected to a system or apparatus according tovarious embodiments. For example, process 5400 may be performed by ahost computer connected to an example apparatus, as described above.Process 5400 may include blocks 5410 through 5470, and alternatively mayonly include blocks 5430 through 5460, as explained below. In alternateembodiments, process 5400 may have more or less operations, and some ofthe operations may be performed in different order.

Process 5400 may begin with two optional blocks, blocks 5410 and 5420.Thus, these blocks are shown in dotted lines. It is noted that blocks5410 and 5420 are “one time” setup processes, and thus do not need to beperformed very often. For this reason they are optional. At block 5410,an example system or apparatus may optionally display a camera's view ofsimultaneous images to be acquired, such as, for example, the camera'sview shown in FIG. 51A.

From block 5410, process 5400 may optionally proceed to block 5420,where, in some embodiments, if a user or operator, or image registrationanalysis performed by the example system on its own, indicates that theimages in the camera view of block 5410 are misaligned, the apparatusmay realign and represent the camera view of images by making one ormore adjustments or corrections in software.

If optional blocks 5410 and 5420 are included in an example of process5400, then from optional block 5420 process 5400 may proceed to block5430 It is noted that if optional blocks 5410 and 5420 are not to beincluded in process 5400, then process 5400 may begin at block 5430,where, in response to a user indication, simultaneous images of theobject may be acquired by the camera. In embodiments, the userindication may be by clicking on a portion of, or otherwise interactingwith a user interface, actuating an input device, or the like.

From block 5430, process 5400 may proceed to block 5440, where theacquired raw images may be inverted and rotated, as described above.From block 5440, process 5400 may proceed to block 5450, where theinverted and rotated images may be cropped to exclude anything beyondthe perimeter of the template, to result in images such as those shownin FIG. 52. These “cropped to template” images may then be stored in adatabase. In embodiments, the images with the entire template are saved,so that if a card's position needs to be adjusted (bumped) that may bedone on the source image (e.g., one such as those shown in FIG. 52)without having to rescan the item.

Finally, from block 5450, process 5400 may proceed to block 5460, wherethe “cropped to template” images generated at block 5450 (such as areshown in FIG. 52) may be further cropped to remove the template, the endresult being front and back images of the object, such as are shown, forexample, in FIG. 53. These front and back images of the object may besaved to the same, or another, database. It is here noted that, asdescribed above regarding a setup phase, the computer knows whattemplate the object to be imaged is held in, having received thatinformation from an operator. In embodiments, this knowledge may beused, along with other image processing techniques, as part of the “cropto object” processing of block 5460.

Once the final images have been obtained at block 5460, they may bedisplayed to a user in the UI. Process 5400 may then terminate.

Alternatively, an additional optional block may be performed followingblock 5460, at block 5470, where process 5400 may rescan the object andthis regenerate images of the object in response to a user indication.In embodiments, the user or operator may decide, following seeing thefinal images, if they did not get the drawer closed completely, weremoving the drawer when the images were acquired, or if the object is outof focus, for example. As shown in FIG. 54, in the event at optionalblock 5470 a user indication is received for a rescan, then process 5400may return to block 5430, and repeat the processing at each of blocks5430 through 5460, as described above.

In embodiments, a slight modification to process 5400 may also beimplemented to implement a “test mode” prior to committing to a finalscan. Thus, in such embodiments, an end user may be allowed to “bump”the front and back images of a scanned object. In this modified processa test mode may be entered, where images are acquired as in block 5430of process 5400, and cropped with a slight offset in any direction. Thenblocks 5440, 5450 and 5460 of process 5400 may be performed, as shown inFIG. 54 and described above, except that none of the “cropped totemplate” or “cropped to object” images are stored in a database. Thethinking is that the end user may bump several times, in severaldirections, to better center the object. Once the end user is happy withthe new position, a rescan may be initiated, as shown in block 5470, andblocks 5430 through 5460 performed as described above.

To further illustrate the light paths in an exemplary apparatus, aschematic diagram of how light rays reflected on an exemplary targetobject are reflected in the mirrors and then captured by a camera,according to various embodiments, is illustrated in FIG. 54A. Withreference thereto, there is shown an example object 120, say a baseballcard. Light in the imaging chamber (light sources not shown), such as,for example, may be provided by a set of LEDs as described above,illuminates the object 120. Some of this light may be reflected off ofobject 120, as shown. For example, light at the front edge of the frontof the card, represented by ray A1, may reflect off of card 120 and hitupper mirror 108. The reflection of ray A1 from upper mirror 108, or rayA1′ then may travel to the lens of camera 102, and be captured in animage taken by camera 102, as described above. Similarly, light at therear edge of the front face of the card, represented by ray B1, mayreflect off of card 120 and also hit upper mirror 108. The reflection ofray B1 from upper mirror 108, or ray B1′ may then travel to the lens ofcamera 102, as shown, and be captured in the same image taken by camera102. In similar fashion, various (not shown) additional rays reflect offof card 120 and upper mirror 108, and thus create an upper image 120U ofcard 120 in the upper mirror, which may be captured by camera 102.

A parallel process may occur with the rear of card 120, it being hererecalled that both the front and rear of card 120 are beingsimultaneously imaged, and thus card 120 is held in a holder that istransparent on both its top and bottom. Thus, light at the front edge ofthe back of the card, represented by ray A2, may reflect off of the backface of card 120 and hit lower mirror 110. The reflection of ray A2 fromlower mirror 110, or ray A2′ then may travel to the lens of camera 102,and be captured in the image taken by camera 102, as described above.Similarly, light at the rear edge of the back of the card, representedby ray B2, may reflect off of card 120 and also hit lower mirror 110.The reflection of ray B2 from upper mirror 108, or ray B2′ may thentravel to the lens of camera 102, as shown, and be captured in the sameimage taken by camera 102. In similar fashion, various (not shown)additional rays reflect off of card 120 and lower mirror 110, and thuscreate a lower image 120L of card 120 in the upper mirror, which may becaptured by camera 102.

It is noted that in order to obtain symmetric simultaneous images of thefront and back of an object, in embodiments, the geometries, inparticular the angles subtended between the upper mirror and the objectto be imaged, the lower mirror and the object to be imaged, and theplanar aspect of each of these three elements are critical. Moreover,the more symmetry between the front of the object image acquisitionsystem and the back of the object image acquisition system, the greatersymmetry and parity between the front and back images.

These symmetries, and the consequences of their being even a smallamount off, are next described with reference to FIGS. 55 through 58,with further reference, as well as comparison, to FIGS. 51A through 53,previously described.

FIG. 55 illustrates alternate front and back images cropped to thetemplate perimeter, similar to those shown in FIG. 52, taken after aslight depression was applied to the lower mirror. As may be seen, dueto the depression applied at a lower corner of the lower mirror (theright lower corner of the lower mirror, from a viewpoint at the back ofthe apparatus looking forward into the chamber), the image of the backof the card is rotated relative to the image of the front of the card,and the four lines defining the perimeter of the back image are notfully parallel to the edges of the images overall.

FIG. 55A illustrates the front and back images of FIG. 56, afterrespectively cropping them to only show the source images (e.g., thecard within the plastic cover). In this view the rotation of the rearimage is even more visible, and thus there is a gap 196 between the edgeof the card slab and the straight horizontal line defining the top ofthe image.

FIG. 56 illustrates an example lower mirror, and the point at which asubstantially normal force 199 to the surface of the lower mirror wasapplied, which created the skew in the images of the back of the examplebaseball card shown in FIGS. 56 and 56A.

FIG. 57 illustrates a calibration cross 194 placed on the outer rear (soas to be seen in the camera's view) of the drawer of the examplealternate apparatus. This may be used, in embodiments, to calibrate theview of the simultaneous images seen by a camera, as next illustrated.FIG. 58 illustrates an example camera view of the upper and lowermirrors and the rear of the drawer with the calibration cross 194 in thecenter, that may, in embodiments, be used to center the images, bothhorizontally and vertically. It is here noted that the image of FIG. 58is of a similar view as that shown in FIG. 51A, for example, without anycard, drawer insert or template. Thus, because the drawer insert, glassand any template have been removed from the drawer, the upper and lowerimages that are seen in FIG. 58 are actually the reflections of eachmirror (with its mirror frame) in the other mirror. This is why eachmirror appears tilted backwards, as those are reflections. The actualmirror frames are seen, primarily as white horizontal structures at thecenter of the image, just above and below the drawer end with thecalibration cross 194. It is further noted that the small blackrectangles 205 in the reflections are the reflections of the bottom(seen in the upper image) and top (seen in the lower image) of theaperture at the back of the chamber. In embodiments, if calibrationcross 194 is not seen in the center of this image, then adjustments maybe made, for example, to the camera position, and thus the position ofits lens, as described above in connection with FIGS. 22-25, or in imagecapture software that the camera communicates with, running in theconnected computer. Alternatively, adjustments may be made to thechamber, the position and angle of the mirror frames, the structure ofthe apparatus, or the like, to correct for asymmetries that may havebeen introduced in the components of the housing of the exampleapparatus, or in the relative spacing of its frame elements, asdescribed above.

FIG. 59 illustrates an example baffle 200 attached to the camera lens,according to various embodiments. In embodiments, baffle 200 may be usedso as to prevent any effect of a reflection of camera 102 in an acquiredimage. In embodiments, baffle 200 may be 3D printed, and may have awhite color, so as to reflect as much light as possible. It is notedthat baffle 200 may be preferred when acquiring simultaneous images oflarge objects, such as those having a size of 5×7 inches or greater,where a reflection of the camera may actually be seen on the mirrors.Because may cameras, such as, for example, camera 102, are black, thereflection of the black camera onto a mirror may create an effect, suchas a black streak on an edge of an image.

Referring now to FIG. 60, a block diagram of a computer device suitablefor practicing aspects of the present disclosure, in accordance withvarious embodiments, is illustrated. As shown, computer device 6000 mayinclude one or more processors 6002, memory controller 6003, and systemmemory 6004. Each processor 6002 may include one or more processorcores, and hardware accelerator 6005. An example of hardware accelerator6005 may include, but is not limited to, programmed field programmablegate arrays (FPGA). In embodiments, processor 6002 may also include amemory controller (not shown). In embodiments, system memory 6004 mayinclude any known volatile or non-volatile memory.

Additionally, computer device 6000 may include mass storage device(s)6006 (such as solid state drives), input/output device interface 6008(to interface with various input/output devices, such as, mouse, cursorcontrol, display device (including touch sensitive screen), and soforth) and communication interfaces 6010 (such as network interfacecards, modems and so forth). Computer device may also have a camerainterface 6009, to exchange control signals, images, data and othersignals with a camera, such as camera 102 in FIG. 20, communicablyconnected to computer device 6000. In embodiments, communicationinterfaces 6010 may support wired or wireless communication, includingnear field communication. The elements may be coupled to each other viasystem bus 6012, which may represent one or more buses. In the case ofmultiple buses, they may be bridged by one or more bus bridges (notshown).

Each of these elements may perform its conventional functions known inthe art. In particular, system memory 6004 and mass storage device(s)6006 may be employed to store a working copy and a permanent copy of theexecutable code of the programming instructions of an operating system,one or more applications, and/or various software implemented componentsof a camera control and simultaneous image acquisition system,collectively referred to as computing logic 6022. The programminginstructions implementing computing logic 6022 may comprise assemblerinstructions supported by processor(s) 6002 or high-level languages,such as, for example, C, that can be compiled into such instructions. Inembodiments, some of computing logic may be implemented in hardwareaccelerator 6005. In embodiments, part of computational logic 6022,e.g., a portion of the computational logic 6022 associated with theruntime environment of the compiler may be implemented in hardwareaccelerator 6005.

The permanent copy of the executable code of the programminginstructions or the bit streams for configuring hardware accelerator6005 may be placed into permanent mass storage device(s) 6006 and/orhardware accelerator 6005 in the factory, or in the field, through, forexample, a distribution medium (not shown), such as a compact disc (CD),or through communication interface 6010 (from a distribution server (notshown)). While for ease of understanding, the compiler and the hardwareaccelerator that executes the generated code that incorporate thepredicate computation teaching of the present disclosure to increase thepipelining and/or parallel execution of nested loops are shown as beinglocated on the same computing device, in alternate embodiments, thecompiler and the hardware accelerator may be located on differentcomputing devices.

The number, capability and/or capacity of these elements 6010-6012 mayvary, depending on the intended use of example computer device 6000,e.g., whether example computer device 6000 is a smartphone, tablet,ultrabook, a laptop, a server, a set-top box, a game console, a camera,and so forth. The constitutions of these elements 6010-6012 areotherwise known, and accordingly will not be further described.

FIG. 61 illustrates an example computer-readable storage medium havinginstructions configured to implement all (or portion of) softwareimplementations of and/or practice (aspects of) process 5400 of FIG. 54,earlier described, in accordance with various embodiments. Asillustrated, computer-readable storage medium 6102 may include theexecutable code of a number of programming instructions or bit streams6104. Executable code of programming instructions (or bit streams) 6104may be configured to enable a device, e.g., computer device 6100, inresponse to execution of the executable code/programming instructions(or operation of an encoded hardware accelerator 6105), to perform(aspects of) process 5400 of FIG. 54. In alternate embodiments,executable code/programming instructions/bit streams 6104 may bedisposed on multiple non-transitory computer-readable storage medium6102 instead. In embodiments, computer-readable storage medium 6102 maybe non-transitory. In still other embodiments, executablecode/programming instructions 6104 may be encoded in transitory computerreadable medium, such as signals.

Referring back to FIG. 60, for one embodiment, at least one ofprocessors 6002 may be packaged together with a computer-readablestorage medium having some or all of computing logic 6022 (in lieu ofstoring in system memory 6004 and/or mass storage device 6006)configured to practice all or selected ones of the operations earlierdescribed with reference to FIG. 54. For one embodiment, at least one ofprocessors 6002 may be packaged together with a computer-readablestorage medium having some or all of computing logic 6022 to form aSystem in Package (SiP). For one embodiment, at least one of processors6002 may be integrated on the same die with a computer-readable storagemedium having some or all of computing logic 6022. For one embodiment,at least one of processors 6002 may be packaged together with acomputer-readable storage medium having some or all of computing logic6022 to form a System on Chip (SoC). For at least one embodiment, theSoC may be utilized in, e.g., but not limited to, a hybrid computingtablet/laptop.

In the description above, various operations are described as multiplediscrete operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful inunderstanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order ofdescription should not be construed as to imply that these operationsare necessarily order dependent. Embodiments of the present disclosuremay be implemented into a system using any suitable hardware and/orsoftware to configure as desired.

Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described hereinfor purposes of description, a wide variety of alternate and/orequivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the samepurposes may be substituted for the embodiments shown and describedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Thisapplication is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of theembodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended thatembodiments described herein be limited only by the claims and theequivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for simultaneous image capture,comprising: a camera; and a chamber with an aperture, the cameraoriented to capture light emitted through the aperture, the chamber toinclude: at least first and second mirrors positioned inside the chamberwith a defined angle between them, and a holder for an object to beimaged, the holder positioned inside the chamber between the first andsecond mirrors, wherein the field of view of the camera includes atleast portions of the first and second mirrors with respective portionsof the object reflected by the first and second mirrors.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the defined angle between the first andsecond mirrors is between 75 and 115 degrees.
 3. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the holder is planar.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe defined angle between the first and second mirrors is substantially90 degrees, and wherein an angle of substantially 45 degrees issubtended between the holder and each of the first and second mirrors.5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the camera is positioned at adistance behind the aperture such that the respective portions of theobject reflected by the first and second mirrors respectively include afull view of front and back sides of the object.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 1, further comprising a third mirror to reflect light from thefirst and second mirrors onto a lens of the camera.
 7. The apparatus ofclaim 6, further comprising a fourth mirror to reflect light from thethird mirror onto a lens of the camera.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the holder comprises a drawer, with a transparent lower surfaceon which to place the object to be imaged.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8,further comprising a drawer insert, to hold one or more types oftemplates in which an object may be provided.
 10. The apparatus of claim9, the drawer insert further comprising a fixation mechanism to holdeach of the one or more types of templates in the same position relativeto the drawer insert.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rear ofthe chamber is defined by one or more baffles, the aperture provided inone of the baffles.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the bafflesare colored grey.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the chamber isilluminated by a set of lights.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, whereinthe set of lights includes at least four LEDs, two provided toilluminate an upper surface of the object, and two provided toilluminate a lower surface of the object.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14,wherein each LED is held in a pre-defined position within the chamber byan affixation device, to prevent variations in the LED's position overtime.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the camera and the chamberis provided in a housing, the housing including a drawer that opens at afront surface of the housing, and when closed sits between the first andsecond mirrors.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the drawercomprises the holder.
 18. One or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media comprising a plurality of instructions that in response tobeing executed cause a computing device communicably connected to theapparatus of claim 9 to: acquire simultaneous images of a front surfaceand a rear surface of an object, in response to a user indication;invert and rotate the acquired images; first crop the images to a firstperimeter and store in a first database; second crop the first croppedimages to a second perimeter and store in one of the first database or asecond database; display the second cropped images to the user.
 19. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16,further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the computingdevice to: in response to a user indication, rescan the object.
 20. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16,wherein the object is provided in a template, the template provided inthe holder, and wherein the first crop crops the images to substantiallythe perimeter of the template, and the second crop crops the image tosubstantially remove the template from the images.